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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22354303">The Dance of the Accursed</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TargaryenPug/pseuds/TargaryenPug'>TargaryenPug</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Accursed Elizabeth Swann, Accursed Will Turner, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Elizabeth Swann, Barbossa Redemption, Black Pearl - Freeform, Body Horror, Body Modification, Cursed Elizabeth Swann, Cursed Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann joins the Flying Dutchman, F/F, F/M, Flying Dutchman, Hector Barbossa Redemption, M/M, Misery, Movie: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Non-Chronological, Other, Pirate Elizabeth Swann, Post-Dead Man's Chest, Redemption, Supernatural Elements, Unintentional Redemption</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 08:29:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>10,410</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22354303</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TargaryenPug/pseuds/TargaryenPug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>To save Will from a life of bondage to The Flying Dutchman, Elizabeth strikes a bargain with feared captain Davy Jones.</p>
<p>Now, Elizabeth must learn to live with the choice she made and Will races to release Elizabeth from the bondage she exchanged for his freedom, if not at least, he'll find a way to be with her.</p>
<p>And Jack...well, he'll have to learn to live with his guilt.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Elizabeth Swann/Will Turner</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. One of the crew</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wardown/gifts">Wardown</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So, I wanted to give something nice to Wardown and I wanted to write something not ASOAIAF or GoT related for a change, and guys I love fantasy, and I've been watching Pirates of the Caribbean (the first three movies, the fourth and fifth don't exist) and I decided to use one of my favorite PotC concepts on this fic...What if Elizabeth herself had been cursed somehow?</p>
<p>And I also wanted her to do pirate shit instead of waiting on an island for ten years.</p>
<p>She's a pirate after all.</p>
<p>So I was between this and a Pirate King Elizabeth concept and I decided to go with this one, maybe I'll write the Pirate King Elizabeth one once I finish writing A Vision in The Flames.</p>
<p>Anyways, Wardown...please, I hope you liked it...I really liked the fics you gave me.</p>
<p>--TargaryenPug</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was a tranquil day, the wind had been calm and the seas gentle and thus not too much work had been needed of them.</p><p>Thus Elizabeth was relaxing on her quarters, she had not done that in a while, her tranquil days had been few since joining the crew, but there were some perks of being the first mate… such as having quarters entirely to herself, quarters that had a few barnacle covered bottles of rum, a bed and a mirror that she avoided, and a few books that allowed her to escape her existence… ever since joining the crew, Elizabeth had become an avid reader, as often the shipwrecks left books rare and common as well as letters, journals, diaries and things like that, things she would rescue to add to her personal collection.</p><p>Her tranquility lasted not much longer, she heard a knock on the door, several in fact.</p><p>"What is it?" she inquired irritated.</p><p>The knocker opened the door, it was Little Rick, the youngest member of the crew, and the least ugly after her; which in that ship it meant not much.</p><p>"Pardon me, First Mate Swann… the Captain requests yer presence at his quarters… he says it be important"</p><p>"Tell him I shall be there soon…" she said, the Captain could not be made to wait for much longer. She followed the youngling across the ship's moss covered deck, following him below it, in the wood grew barnacles, coral and moss, but she had grown used to it since her time in the ship, her own bed was, in fact, covered in moss.</p><p>She continued to follow the lad until she reached the black wooden door of the Captain's quarters.</p><p>Little Rick left soon after, Elizabeth was about to knock on the door when she heard "go ahead", she entered the quarters.</p><p>Davy Jones stood there, not looking at her but at the window in front of his desk that pointed towards the ocean. Elizabeth swallowed saliva, Davy Jones was crossing his "arms" behind his back…</p><p>"Miss Swann… " he said, without turning to see her. On instinct she took a seat on the chair laid in front of the desk, Jones finally turned to see her, to meet her gaze.</p><p>"There hundred years… " he began…</p><p>"Aye… " she said.</p><p>His gaze softened, and what Elizabeth Swann saw in Davy Jones's face almost looked like a smile.</p><p>"You have been, so far, the best First Mate I ever had on this ship, even Maccus did not run it as tight as you do… and Maccus was efficient"</p><p>"Thank you… Captain" she said.</p><p>"Shame… It be a shame, you be hard to let go, but me word be me word… yer time is almost up.. "</p><p>She was surprised to hear that, had so much time truly passed, three hundred years? She turned to see herself In the mirror on the left side of Jones's wall, she looked, well, monstrous still… she passed her webbed fingers across her face, could this be it? She had grown used to the captain, to the crew, to the sea, to herself… she was as accursed as anyone else on the ship, how was she to return now to the land? when she knew well that even before joining Jones’s crew she had been called to the sea.</p><p>"Three hundred years… when?" she asked, almost at loss for words…</p><p>"Two days, you will be left at Port Royal, ye shall be free…" two days.</p><p>When she started her service aboard of <em>The Flying Dutchman</em>, she had counted every day and then, after fifty years she stopped counting, after all it became her life, she had grown used to it, when had it been? After fifty years she had stopped counting, it felt like an eternity ago.</p>
<hr/><p>The thunder crashed with the waves and the sea, wild and unpredictable crashed also with the deck of the ship… but it did not seem to bother the crew of <em>The Flying Dutchman</em>, in fact they seemed to enjoy it, though it was possible that what they enjoyed was watching the captured crew shake with fear.</p><p>The companions that were next to her, the men Jack had recruited, were all shivering and shaking with fear, Elizabeth even heard some of them crying; "Our father who art in heaven</p><p>Hallowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come… ", she heard a man praying, she remained stone-faced… while cursing Jack in her head for the trap she had laid out to Will and ultimately, to her.</p><p>After going through each and every man lined on the deck of the ship, the captain of <em>The Flying Dutchman</em> finally got infront of her, she didn't want to avoid Davy Jones gaze…</p><p>"I have seen my share of surprises, but so far you are the most odd" claimed the accursed captain.</p><p>"I take it you have never seen a woman in a ship before" said Elizabeth perhaps too boldly.</p><p>"Aye, I have… but you don't strike me as a sailor, though perhaps I'm wrong… tell me, you came in Jack's crew, did you not? " he asked.</p><p>"I did, I was sent to settle Will Turner's debt to <em>the Flying Dutchman</em>"</p><p>This prompted a laugh from Davy Jones… followed by a laugh by the rest of the Dutchman's crew, which terrified even more the captured sailors who had no idea they were part of a bargain. Another thunder fell to the sea while the accursed men laughed, like announcing their grimm fates upon the unsuspecting victims of Jack's deals.</p><p>"That be funny, Will Turner is here to settle Jack Sparrow's debt… as are your other companions," he said while pointing at all the sailors that had been lined next to her, none of which had been given the option to choose death, making Elizabeth angrier still at Jack; then suddenly Jones's face illuminated as if he suddenly remembered something "Turner… Sparrow mentioned Turner had a woman, you wouldn't happen to be Elizabeth Swann… Would you?"</p><p>"I am" She said, half expecting the reaction of Jones and his proposal, if she were not to make the proposition first.</p><p>A grin appeared on the captain's face, his tentacles twisting upwards with what seemed like excitement, he prided himself in his cruelty, and what better way to punish the young Turner than to take something from him, the other crewmen… the fishmen aboard the ship also making noises with excitement,</p><p>"I will settle Will's debt and Jack's"</p><p>"Sparrow promised me a hundred souls Miss Swann, your beloved's among those… will you give me a hundred souls also?"</p><p>"No, Captain Jones…"</p><p>"Well then… "</p><p>"But I'll do the years owed to you by Will Turner, and Jack Sparrow" she interrupted him, truth to be told, Elizabeth had no desire to save Jack, but if Will was there to settle Jack's score but if she was there to settle Will's score to Davy Jones she would have to settle Jack's as well…</p><p>"And you might still get the other ninety men owed to you by Jack…" she felt bad at the crew for giving them up, and perhaps they would hate her forever… she hoped Will would, at least then he would not look for her.</p><p>"Three hundred years, Miss Swann… to the rest of your crewmen it would be a hundred years, but you would do one hundred years for Mr Turner, one hundred years for Mr Sparrow and one hundred years for yerself… do we have a deal?"</p><p>Jones extended his right hand, the one that had been turned into tentacles rather than pincers, the one she could grab.</p><p>The sight of it made Elizabeth's stomach turn, the smell was worse… but she grabbed it and shook it nonetheless…</p><p>"Welcome to the Flying Dutchman, Miss Swann". Said the Captain with the usual malice.</p>
<hr/><p>Maccus went to retrieve Will Turner from below the deck, he didn’t put up much resistance, he just followed the hammerhead first mate to the deck, it wasn’t like he could put up much of a fight anyways, his hands were tied behind his back with rope, several knots to make it impossible for him to break free from them.</p><p>Whatever it meant, it could only be good, right? if not it could only mean that he had some work to do, in which case it would be upsetting, sure, but not terrible... so he followed Maccus in good will, that was until he reached the surface of the deck and saw Elizabeth next to Davy Jones…</p><p>“ELIZABETH!” Will yelled while trying to get Maccus and the other crew members off him, all of whom had an incredibly easy grip on him, more than they had they would have had their hands not been tied, though it helped that they were also much stronger than he was...he tried desperately to break free to reach her, and the spectacle apparently amused Jones's crew, crude laughs could be heard among them, mocking his misfortune and that of Elizabeth.</p><p>She turned to look at him, with a sad look upon her face and a forced smile, and despite the wetness of her clothes and hair, Will knew some of it was tears…</p><p>“Elizabeth!” he whispered sadly, to himself.</p><p>“I’m sorry Will…” she whispered and still Will could hear her voice</p><p>“No…” he whispered back.</p><p>“Good news Mr Turner, you have been released from your bond to this ship, ye be free to return to the Black Pearl, this sturdy folks…” he said “...And Miss Swann” he said, with the most evil of tones behind his voice as he pronounced the name of Will’s betrothed “...Have offered to take yer place so enjoy yer freedom!” he said…</p><p>“NO!” he continued to yell as the fish men dragged him out of the <em>Dutchman</em> to the <em>Black Pearl </em>through the planks that connected both ships, still tied up, where Jack’s crew was to pick him up...Jack’s crew but not Jack himself.</p><p>Maccus and Koleniko threw him to the cover of <em>The Black Pearl</em> and walked back to the Dutchman, soon lifting the plank while Joshame Gibbs busied himself cutting the rope that tied Will’s hands, and while the <em>Flying Dutchman</em> began to slowly drift apart, Will fought to free himself repeating “No” over and over again…</p><p>when he was finally free, <em>The Flying Dutchman</em> was already a few miles ahead and about to submerge in the sea, Will stood up as fast as he could, and still it was too late, he felt the sympathetic hand of Maese Gibbs on his shoulder “I’m sorry, Lad” he said as Will Turner looked at the horizon of the sea, where the <em>Flying Dutchman</em> was nowhere to be seen...and then his sadness, worry and fear turned into anger...he clenched his fist and turned to Gibbs asking with his face red and trembling with fury, he knew who to blame for it, the same person Jack had sent to cover his own debt.</p><p>“Where is Jack!?”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Too good to be truth</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>I've tried the new moon tilted in the air<br/>Above a hazy tree-and-farmhouse cluster<br/>As you might try a jewel in your hair.<br/>I've tried it fine with little breadth of luster,<br/>Alone, or in one ornament combining<br/>With one first-water start almost shining.</p><p>-Robert Frost</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I do not understand Captain, what will it be of me?” asked Elizabeth at some point, she had doubts, several in fact.</p><p>“Ye shall return to the land, to yer people and yer life” answered Davy, without much staring at him…</p><p>“Return to what exactly captain? it has been three thousand years, my friends and family are all dead, what would I even return to? looking like this? what would I do on land?” she asked, she could not return, she had nothing left to return to...besides, she was one of the crew, Jones had said it himself.</p><p>“That be not my problem Miss Swann, not yer contacts nor yer life on land are; I will suggest ye to make new friends and to seek work on the docks, and as for yer looks ye will not have to worry about them once yer time aboard my ship is done…” he said, each time he spoke the tentacles in his face moved as if they had their own will but the way they moved in this particular instance made Elizabeth understand it was not a subject he particularly enjoyed, and Elizabeth had a pretty good idea why...most of the members in the crew, were there to avoid death; if a ship was about to sink or stroke disaster and the sailors above it prayed, hard enough to avoid death, no matter the deity, Davy Jones would show up instead along with the Flying Dutchman and the crew, and to the dying or sick sailors he would make a deal; they had the choice to either join his crew and serve for a hundred years or accept death in which case the captain himself would slit open their throats before dumping their bodies to the sea; it always surprised Elizabeth how many chose death. So once their time was up they would succumb to their sickness or their age, but Elizabeth knew that wasn’t her case, as she had joined Davy Jones not as someone sick, old or dying but as a young woman trading her life for that of someone she loved.</p><p>Thoughts that had not even crossed her mind in a very long time suddenly stormed back in her head as her release day approached, she wondered what had it been of Will; if he had found somebody else, perhaps gotten children with this woman created by Elizabeth’s imagination, and their children would have had grandchildren, it had been three hundred years, by then probably there had been at least six generations of Turners...she both hoped it was the case and it wasn’t...she had no idea which scenario would hurt more.</p><p>“And what about additional service?” she offered, the ship was all she had left…</p><p>and it prompted Davy Jones to laugh hysterically, he hit the table with his pincers in his left hand while laughing, his barnacle ridden hat dropped from his head and he almost fell from reclining back in his chair.</p><p>“Have ye grown so fond of me already Miss Swann? of the smell of fish? Do ye not long for yer human looks again? yer soft skin and yer gold locks? my my, this would have been fine a few years ago Miss Swann...No! Ye will return to yer land and that will be it!” he declared, it was cruel of him to get rid of her when she no longer had anything but the ship and her service, for better or worse she was the First Mate. Where was this commitment to her freedom three hundred years ago when she wanted to return to Will, to her land? where was this Davy Jones two hundred and eighty eight years ago when she asked to be allowed to mourn her father? Wasn’t it cruel to return a bird to the wild when it’s wings had been cut? but she did not push further the matter, she returned to her activities of the day, making her voice boom among the crew above deck, yelling orders to move the sails, ropes and all the things the ship required to move, even moving herself some of the ropes, pulling and handling the wheel in the absence of Captain Jones who remained in his quarters...she spent the day wondering why when her freedom was announced she reacted the way she did, why did she dread what she used to dream about?</p><p>Why didn’t she want to leave the ship?</p>
<hr/><p>The first thing Will did when he reached Jack’s Quarters was to punch him in the nose, Jack didn’t see it coming for some reason; he even grinned when he saw Will, showing his silver teeth and his arms open in a friendly manner.</p><p>“Will!” he said almost exited before Will released his fist upon Jack’s face.</p><p>“YOU SOLD ELIZABETH TO DAVY JONES” yelled Will, while Jack stood up from the ground with some dificulty, gently rubbing his nose in the place where Will had hit him.</p><p>“Listen mate, I didn’t do anything I just told her how to release you...and you’re free! you are welcome by the way! She knew exactly what she was doing!” he sat back in his seat, above his desk stood a map, the compass that Will had assumed useless at first and then several empty bottles of rum and a spiced turkey leg somewhere, Jack’s typical mess.</p><p>“How do I release her?” asked Will</p><p>“There is no releasing from Davy Jone’s service, thus why brave Elizabeth was so kind to take our places…”</p><p>“OUR PLACES?” Will interrupted Jack…</p><p>“YOUR place, Davy Jones just needed YOU!” he argued…</p><p>“True, true, but you must remember Lad…” Jack tried to argue</p><p>“Remember what?”</p><p>“Nothing, I honestly have nothing to say...Sorry?” he said, the tone was apologetic but knowing Jack there was probably nothing sincere about his apology, it wouldn’t be the first time Jack had traded them to save their own skins…as Will knew very well.</p><p>“Yeah, you will be…” he muttered, low enough to not be heard by a pretty drunk Jack, who fell asleep not too long after.</p><p>Will stormed off the cabin, he was going to seek a way to save Elizabeth from her bonds so god help him if not, he hurried with the same fury above deck where he could pick up a rowboat, and with no one else being on deck with the exception of Cotton who was asleep and Marty who was drunk and asleep, Will could easily take the rowboat and leave the Black Pearl, it was obvious at this point that Jack wasn’t going to help him free Elizabeth...but he knew someone who could, despite the missteps of the past and despite the fact that he had tried to sacrifice both him and Elizabeth to release himself from a curse, he had to look for him...and someone who could bring him from the dead…</p><p>He needed Captain Barbossa.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Chapter 2  :)</p><p>Sooooo...I had this idea while watching Pirates of The Caribbean again on Netflix, it seemed interesting...like all my other fics, it doesn't start with a clear way with the exception of some details.</p><p>Anyways, Long Story Short...please watch the pirates movies! just the first three that are the good ones...</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Dead Men Tell Some Tales</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>No more, no more, to go to sea no more.<br/>I made up me mind that I was inclined to go to sea no more.</p><p>As I was walking down the street I met with Angeline,<br/>She said come home with me, me lad, we'll have a cracking time<br/>But when I awoke it was not joke I found I was all alone<br/>Me hat, me boots and me money too and me whole ruddy gear was gone</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The sea was unusually calm, the sun was shining brightly and the waves gently rocked <em>The Leaking Sentinel</em> like a cradle, <em>The Leaking Sentinel</em> was way too big to be a boat and way too small to be a ship, and yet out of pride perhaps Will referred to it as a ship, as did the crew he had hired to take him where he needed to go.</p><p>He had left the Black Pearl in a rush, and before getting such a tiny ship he had managed to arrive to Tortuga either by a pure miracle or sheer dumb luck; as he well knew, a rowboat wouldn’t take him too far if his arms got too tired or encountered a storm by bad luck…</p><p>“LAND!” yelled the old man from the Crow’s Nest , Will ran towards the tip of the deck to see for himself, and indeed...Land.</p><p>It was a sandy shore, with beautiful white sand that crashed with the greenish blue water of the shore. The island seemed to be covered in a thick mangrove swamp which their sad little ship could no longer reach.</p><p>Two of Will’s hired crewmen, Dagon and Calico, began to follow Will into the mangrove as soon as they all got off the ship.</p><p>“What are you doing?” he asked them as soon as he noticed them, Will knew perfectly well these weren’t his crew, they were pirates, pirates for hire which was worse and as soon as he reached Tia Dalma’s shack they would probably raise the anchor and leave, in fact he was almost counting on it.</p><p>“Well, Master Will, Tia Dalma’s be a dangerous place” said Dagon, the oldest of the two, putting his hat between his hands and lowering his head.</p><p>“Aye” agreed Calico, a lad way too young to be sailing.</p><p>“You are to stay here…” “But if you go there and die, ye will not pay us…” argued Dagon… Will almost chuckled; Jack Sparrow, although treacherous, backstabbing and self interested had on occasion a few words of wisdom that Will truly could appreciate, which only made his betrayal all the hardest.</p><p>“We be there to keep ye alive, me and the lad, Aye? if not the witch could skin ye and use yer guts for soup” somehow, their concern seemed genuine.</p><p>“I’m here to make a deal with her…” He was there to bring back Hector Barbossa, who would, most likely, try to kill him once brought back, yet this did not seem to deter the two sailors for some odd reason…</p><p>“Without a boat Capt’n? It’s a mangrove, you can only walk so far, the lad and I have a rowboat, let us come with ye” Will Turner had to agree, they were his crew men even if hired, and so, he could not abandon them either, and already they displayed more loyalty than Jack had expressed towards him, or Elizabeth for that matter.</p><p>They indeed had to walk for a while, they had to get In the island after all, but after a bit of time walking, once the water level surpassed the level of their boots, and then their midriff, Will, Dagon and Calico knew it was time to stop carrying the rowboat and get on it, Will had one of the rows on his back and Dagon carried the other one, so once they got on the rowboat’s deck; once Will and Dagon each got on one of the rowing stations and Calico got on the steer, they started pedaling, moving ever so slowly through the mangrove...and while they did that they could hear the sounds of it, the gentle whispering of the birds, the loud croaking of frogs and toads they never saw, bugs that joined in the chorus of the relentless jungle, which seemed to be quite impressive to the young Calico.</p><p>“Aye, look” exclaimed Dagon, suddenly at the young lad at the steer; “See? I told ye, didn’t I?” there was a look of wonder and awe in the kids face “Turtles!!!” exclaimed the young lad; Turtles, Will remembered when Jack told him about the sea turtles, about how he captured them and escaped the island...Turtles… “Your name is Dagon, correct?” he asked his fellow row man, Will had been living with this man for a month and yet he knew nothing of him, or about his crew, although, they weren’t technically “his” crew. “Jeremy be my name, Master Will, they call me Dagon in the docks”... his accent… “Where are you from Dagon?” he asked…</p><p>It would be a while until they reached Tia Dalma’s and, at the very least, a conversation would keep his mind occupied “Scarborough, from the old country, I used to be Royal Navy, times did us rough, so I be here with me lad”</p><p>“So, is he your son?” Will asked, a thought entered his head, the reason why he had been in Davy Jone’s ship in the first place, why Elizabeth had bargained in his stead and why Jack wasn’t covered in tentacles and barnacles; was Will’s father, Bootstrap...Jack had tricked Will, he told him that he could rescue his father whom Will had no contact with since he was a lad not much older than Calico; still when Jack told him he could free his twice accursed father from Davy Jone’s grip by making a bargain with him, Will did exactly what Jack had told him without blinking an eye...because he was his father, because...Will had no idea why, he had been accursed first by the Aztec Gold and then by the heart of Davy Jones...a part of Will, felt a bitterness, that his father, old Bootstrap Bill had chosen a life that had led him to turn into a ghost rather than his own son.</p><p><em>That’s unfair</em> Will thought. <em>He didn’t choose it, he got trapped by it...Just like Elizabeth</em>.</p><p>“I’m sorry” he said finally “Not yer fault, besides, I promised the lad he’d get to see the sea...we’re here”</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Tia Dalma’s cabin was tight, full of jars and animals in tight cages, claustrophobic and creepy to a degree that caused shills to go through Will’s spine from the moment he climbed the ladder to reach the cabin’s door; the inside of said cabin also had reduced heads, skulls and other things that Will assumed were for witchcraft.</p><p>“Come! I have been expecting ya Will Turna, you and your men! Be welcome!” said the woman with enthusiasm, she had dusky skin, with blackened teeth and hair in dreadlocks adorned with bleached shells and bones.</p><p>“Tia Dalma…”</p><p>“I have been expecting ya, master Will” she said with a sinister smile in her face, the light of the room also illuminated her eyes and her face, it was said by many that Tia Dalma could look into the future and the past, that she could see a person’s soul through their eyes and that a mean look from her could sink a ship to the bottom of the sea if so desired; Will had always dismissed it as rumors from sailors and pirates, who were a superstitious folk; but since being dragged by circumstances or perhaps destiny into piracy himself, he had discovered there was a good reason behind most pirates superstitions, ghosts were real after all.</p><p>“You know why I’m here then, I’ll assume”</p><p>“Yessss, I do indeed, yer beloved, is that not right? she be accursed and you are here to see how to free her”</p><p>“Aye” answered Will with determinism in his voice, Calico and Dagon kept a hand in their flintlocks, while observing the conversation.</p><p>“That will not be necessary” Dalma told them, yet they ignored the advice of the sea witch and kept a hand on the handle of their pistols.</p><p>“Davy Jones, a man of the sea...I have not heard him to take a woman before...one of the crew, aye? There are a few ways in which ye can release someone from service to the Flying Dutchman, someone could volunteer in his stead, there could be a trade of blood, strike a new bargain...but if ye get his heart, ye command the ship, ye could order him to release you beloved...you follow?” options that seemed unrealistic, they were all risky options, desperate and he’s try all of them before trying to get the heart of Davy Jones.</p><p>“Or ye could get water from the fountain of youth, she would be released from the ship’s curse if she were to drink it…” she added, so Will would try that first.</p><p>“Where can I get that?” he asked determined.</p><p>“I do not know! that secret be hidden even for me...but you know well who does, you did not come here to ask questions only, yes? Questions be free, you be here for a favor, are ye not? you came here for...help…”</p><p>And as much as he hated to admit it, he did need him.</p><p>“Jack killed him” And Will had been happy at the time about that, he had no idea he would need him later, he had no idea he needed him to save the woman he loved.</p><p>“And yet ye came to see a witch, ye need him, right? I can bring him back, I can bring him to guide you and he be under your control, but be warned, there is a price ye must pay!” Will could give the woman his own heart if she so desired, he was that desperate to get Elizabeth back and he would do anything in his power to do so.</p><p>“I am willing to die if need be”</p><p>“Aye, master Will, but ye could be accursed also! yer beloved is accursed, the man you want brought was accursed, yer father accursed twice...maybe yer men accursed also, are you willing, Will Turna, to be yourself accursed if it comes to that?”</p><p>“Aye” he said.</p><p>“Very well” she said, she pulled a curtain that covered the entrance of a room behind her, which acted as a door, it was relatively far from Will’s sight, yet he could see, lying in the table a body, or at least legs with some black cotton pants and black leather boots that he could recognize anywhere...those were Hector Barbossa’s boots...he was already on the table.</p><p>“Do you have an amulet?” Asked Tia Dalma</p><p>“An amulet?” repeated Will</p><p>“To do the ritual, I will link his spirit to it, so he becomes attached to it, he will be obliged by it…”</p><p>He did have a trinket, a collar that Elizabeth had given him before either got arrested, it was a gift for a promise that neither could forfeit, as they both got accused of piracy and both fled Port Royal in desperation, Will to find Jack’s compass and get a pardon for Elizabeth and for himself, and Elizabeth who also desperately tried to get a pardon for Will and for herself… Perhaps it had been fate who called William Turner, a blacksmith and the son of a pirate, to the sea to become a pirate himself, and perhaps Elizabeth had also been called by fate to the sea.</p><p>“Will this do?” he asked as he pulled it off.</p><p>“Aye!” said the woman, Calico and Dagon kept their hands on the handle of their pistols, and during the night, the sounds of the mangrove increased in loudness and madness, Dalma chanted words Will could not understand and the candles that surrounded and illuminated the cabin turned off and on again.</p><p>At some point, he could even feel the earth moving.</p><p>And then…</p><p>Nothing</p><p>Until the earth shook again and thunder stroock nearby, and then Will saw it, the dead man that was above the table moved his left foot, his hands placed in each side of the table like a tiger’s paws are placed on the ground when it’s about to jump on its prey...and then, he stood up...a man who had been alive, then undead, then briefly alive and then dead for what seemed for good...stood up, alive again, and his flesh remained as living as it had been when he had first been summoned.</p><p>“Hector Barbosa, I summon ye, to life, back from the dead ye come, and to the living ye will serve…”</p><p>“Aghghh” he roared with his first breath of air.</p><p>Will, remained in shock after witnessing the rise of a dead man, and yet Tia Dalma remained with a mocking smile on her face.</p><p>“Welcome back!” she said</p><p>“We have a favor to ask ye!”</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Captain's Orders</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>
  <em>And it's all for me grog, me jolly, jolly grog</em>
  <br/>
  <em>All for me beer and tobacco</em>
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  <em>Well I spent all me tin on the lassies drinking gin</em>
  <br/>
  <em>Across the western ocean I must wander</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> <em>Where are me boots, me noggin, noggin boots</em><br/><em>they're all gone for beer and tobacco</em><br/><em>For the heels they are worn out and the toes are kicked about</em><br/><em>And the soles are looking for better weather</em></p><p> <em>And it's all for me grog, me jolly, jolly grog</em><br/><em>All for me beer and tobacco</em><br/><em>Well I spent all me tin on the lassies drinking gin</em><br/><em>Across the western ocean I must wander</em></p><p> <em>Where is me shirt me noggin, noggin shirt</em><br/><em>It's all gone for beer and tobacco</em><br/><em>For the collar is all worn and the sleeves they are all torn</em><br/><em>And the tail is looking for better weather</em></p><hr/>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first two months aboard <em> the Flying Dutchman</em> went by fairly quickly; despite the cruel laugh and ominous tone of Captain Jones the first night she spent aboard, Elizabeth’s labors had been fairly simple; mop and clean the deck (as best as she could, given that the ship submerged into the water), assist the cook, go into the Crow’s Nest to relieve Blue Eyes when he tired, assist the Bosun when he needed assistance, assist the First Mate when he needed assistance, assist every Officer aboard when they needed assistance and assist the Captain when he needed assistance.</p><p>She had also grown accustomed to the fish men.</p><p>At first, not only being the only woman aboard <em>The Flying Dutchman</em>, but also the only human seemed overwhelming, and a bit terrifying if truth were to be told; but as days went by the fish men seemed al the more common, that was not to say that she had it any easy, as she had still not bonded with anyone, no one aboard she could call friend or even acquaintance, but no one seemed nearly as terrifying as they did before...cruel? certainly! she had already received a whipping for not pulling the knots well enough...cruel sure, but not terrifying...even the Captain himself, who before had appeared so ghostly, so inhuman with his deep blue eyes and his living beard made out of tentacles, even his crab leg and pincer, seemed more and more usual.</p><p>Truth to be told, Elizabeth couldn’t possibly tell if growing accustomed to such a thing was a good thing or not; and she suspected it wasn’t. She suspected it was a defense mechanism, she was, after all, going to spend three hundred years aboard...but she needed also to cling on to some of the mundanity and memory of her life on land, as the governor’s daughter...</p><p>And her skin remained soft, her hair remained there if a bit more stiff for the saltwater, her nose retained the pointy angle that she did always liked about her appearance and her hands, although they now looked more like those of a sailor than those of a lady, still remained her own…</p><p>Her days had gone too busy for her to truly focus on her brand new misery, or on the fact that she was no longer a free woman...a sudden image ran through her and she released a small chuckle she could not avoid but to have thinking about the irony; slaves...As the daughter of the governor of Port Royal she had seen her good share of slaves go through the port, but she did not think much of it until she became pretty much a slave herself; though at least Captain Jones had the decency not to call her that, not that it had ever occurred to him, but everyone in that ship was bound to him. She chuckled again, the Crow’s Nest was as good a place as any to laugh about her misfortune, she could not do much more than that...see the irony and the humor of the situation she was in.</p><p>That was until she heard a voice looming in...the Captain’s voice, which always made her jump still.</p><p>“SWANN!” he yelled, making his voice loud as a thunder “SWANN GET YER ARSE DOWN HERE!” she did not hesitate to obey him, she went down the Crow’s nest as fast as she possibly could, and nearly jumped to the ground.</p><p>When she reached the deck, she noticed most of the members of the crew there, no one was working on the sails, or stirring the wheel, scrubbing the deck or doing anything really...even the cook was there, and the sails themselves had stopped.</p><p>The ship wasn’t moving, at all.</p><p>“Captain?” she asked after noticing it, she noticed the anchor had been released, the ship had stopped intentionally, the circle of the crew finally opened and the men who were giving their backs to elizabeth moved to the sides, making visible the captain that was in the center of the circle with a sinister smile on his face.</p><p>“Elizabeth! My dear…” he said with a malicious grin and an artificially sweet tone, the crewmen were laughing, she noticed he held his hands (or rather his tentacle en pincer) behind his back.</p><p>“I...Have a gift for you…” he said before putting his arms in front of him, with his left arm extended and his tentacle-hand forward he held a sword by the grip, very closely to the guard, he extended the tentacled hand to her, and she remained...perplexed, to say the very least, shocked and surprised. A Dao sword, good steel, and it almost seemed newly forged...</p><p>“Everyone in me crew has one of those, a sword, no pistols as the powder would get wet, aye, but a sword, and I have realized that ye have not yet gone through the ‘initiation’ ye will be here longer than anyone else, so as customary I give ye this, take it” he said, with mock courtesy.</p><p>Elizabeth hesitated before grabbing the sword, and she could hear the loud roars, cheers and laughs of the crew when her palm touched the hilt of the sword, then Davy put his arms behind his back again and turned aside, letting Elizabeth see two men, tied up, wet and muzzled up...and with horror in her face she knew what Davy wanted her to do.</p><p>“These gentlemen, chose...death...before them the last person to be given the choice was, if I remember correctly, ye...no, Will? ah yes! Will. A shame, a shame indeed, but ye have not yet gone through the initiation; pick one of them, and do what you must”</p><p>“No, Captain, I won’t, whip me instead I will not…”</p><p>“Aye, ye will, I shall whip you regardless but ye will kill one of them, or I shall force ye to kill both of them, and I have my ways to force ye” he said drawing his face and his breath much closer to hers...the crewmen began chanting her name.</p><p>“Elizabeth, Elizabeth, Elizabeth” she could hear in their raspy inhuman voices. Her hand shook.</p><p>And she walked slowly towards the captives, making the chants go louder and louder, her heart racing the more she got close...she walked, towards the edge of the quarterdeck, where the prisoners were tied up...One of them was young, too young, he could not be older than 17, with medium height blond hair blue eyes and sharp features, and the other one, was an old man, balding with grey hair, square jawed, clean shaven and with deep blue eyes...merchants, she suspected, both of them.</p><p>Both of them stared deeply at her when she got near, and of their expressions she could not make out if it was dread, hatred, resentment or begging in their eyes, with their mouths covered she could not tell, as they could not say either.</p><p>She picked the old man…</p><p>She ran her sword through his heart as cleanly as she could, she was not a sword master by any means, she had used one a couple of times and that was it, and she had never, ever killed someone before.</p><p>She immediately went into shock, falling on her knees and her eyes locked deeply on to the rotting planks of wood of the deck, for the grunting she heard from the old man, he knew he did not die right away, it was a solid few minutes before he stopped grunting, and the son too grunted in horror, but his death was much quicker, as she just suddenly stopped hearing his voice.</p><p>The old man, it took him a good thirty minutes to die, Elizabeth was no expert, after all, and after that she heard the sound of his body hitting the deck, though she did not see it as her eyes remained locked on the planks.</p><p>When she had offered to take Will’s place...had she been so innocent and naive to think something like this would not be requested of her? that her chores would be to clean the deck for three hundred years? she had not even thought of the possibility, and at the moment, she wished that Barbosa had slit her throat when she was his captive as he had threatened to do before being rescued by Jack and Will, for she would not have done such an horrific act...God, it would not be the first time...would it? and as she was...deeply lost in her thought, she heard Captain Jones’s raspy voice chant “She’s one of us!” and her crew mates, chant with him “One of us! one of us”</p><p>“Tonight!” he said.</p><p>“Ye dine with the Captain!”</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>“Shut up already!” exclaimed Will, <em>The Leaking Sentinel</em> had a captain’s cabin, and yet they were having this discussion while he was on the wheel.</p><p>“I am just sayin’...” exclaimed Barbosa, while reclining his body lazily on the deck…</p><p>“That she’s not the only woman in the world...and a handsome lad like yerself would not have much trouble finding company…” he answered while loudly chewing a green apple, ever since his resurrection he had gotten a taste for apples.</p><p>“I thought you wanted to live, is the case not that still?”</p><p>“Aye, that be the case, Will Turner, but I refuse to live again as some accursed being, I spent already too long lingering between life and death, by being first alive then undead then dead and then alive again; let me tell ye, it be not a nice experience…” he threw the apple overboard right into the sea after nearly finishing it, making Will more irritable.</p><p>“First, need I remind you that you are here under my command? your freedom in exchange of your help...second, I am not looking to drag you into it, once we are done you will be set free, I am not looking to set a curse on you I am merely trying to break Elizabeth from one, you are only here because you know how to...” In theory, there was no way to break the bond created by the Flying Dutchman, unless the captain himself were to break it...but it occured to Will that maybe, if she drank from the fountain of youth, he’d be able to release her.</p><p>“Distrust of all the things that would make ye inmortal, boy, for they always have a dire price and I tell ye by me own experience, most likely they come accursed and let me tell ye, I would rather DIE again, for good even, than live such existence again...the eternal cold is not something ye want” he said.</p><p>Will was quite incredulous.</p><p>“I cannot believe you, last time we saw each other you tried to sacrifice me, you tried to drop my blood on Aztec Gold to break your own curse and now you do not desire me to sacrifice my life for Elizabeth…Are you trying to protect me? after you wanted to drain my blood?” he did not mean to break his facade this easily, still, he thought...it certainly required some guts to be told this after what had happened between them.</p><p>Bloody Pirates.</p><p>“Not yer life boy, yer freedom, that be different; and trust me, you would happily sacrifice yer life if ye knew what was truly in stake...ye don’t even know what the fountain would do...ye don’t know if it would set her free indeed or kill her...ye don’t know, neither do I for that matter, I be not yer friend but take it from me, boy, as not even I would be cruel enough to let ye do this without warning ye” he exclaimed, changing his relaxed posture into a more aggressive one.</p><p>Mad, this man was as mad as Jack.</p><p>And perhaps more treacherous…</p><p>He had tried to sacrifice him, him and Elizabeth...yet, oddly, he trusted him more than he trusted Jack.</p><p>“Should it come to it, Captain Barbosa, I will not sell you out, I shall not use you as sacrifice, if it comes to something like that I’ll set you free and you might take my ship and leave, be a captain again rather than a captive” Said Will, pensative.</p><p>He had, in fact, contemplate the possibility that he might not live to complete his mission, he would die trying if such were the case, for he loved Elizabeth enough to at least try and die for it; and Barbossa, despite what he had done to them in the past, or maybe because of it, would not be tied to it any longer if Will were to perish in his mission, he was desperate enough to enroll him, to trust him and to bring him back from the dead...but he would not bound him.</p><p>“Aye, I made a promise, did I not? that I would help ye in yer mission…” and after that they would part ways, and he’d be a pirate again, he’d be back to his days of plunder but at least, Elizabeth would be free.</p><p>“Under witchcraft”</p><p>“But a promise still, and I shall keep it...I be a man of me word” Said Barbossa in a solemn tone, foreign and strange to him.</p><p>And Will had to remind himself not to trust him.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>“It was the end, for whatever remains to me of life on the surface of this earth, of every vestige of mental peace and confidence in the integrity of Nature and of the human mind. Nothing that I could have imagined—nothing, even, that I could have gathered had I credited old Zadok’s crazy tale in the most literal way—would be in any way comparable to the daemoniac, blasphemous reality that I saw—or believe I saw. I have tried to hint what it was in order to postpone the horror of writing it down baldly. Can it be possible that this planet has actually spawned such things; that human eyes have truly seen, as objective flesh, what man has hitherto known only in febrile phantasy and tenuous legend?”<br/>― H.P. Lovecraft , The Shadow Over Innsmouth</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tortuga.</p><p>Will had hated this place for most of his life, he did not presume to be a gentleman or a man of class, he was far from it as he had been a poor but honest blacksmith for most of his life, a pirate in the recent years and forever the son and grandson of pirates; but nearly everyone on the town was either perpetually drunk or a prostitute, or both at times...brawls were common, people spit in the streets, there was no one there to keep order or civility and everyone there was either a pirate, or related to one and for the case it didn’t matter. Still, the men there appeared to enjoy their time in Tortuga; his crew of The Leaking Sentinel, who were enjoying the brawls, participating and at times earning a few coins from it, so was Barbossa who Will first came to meet as a force of nature, a creature so accursed that could not be killed, who was now enjoying his eight mug of beer without even taking the time of removing the remains of his meal or his drink from his beard...Will himself was beginning to enjoy it a little, he did not participate in the brawling, or the drinking or the reckless games from which some of his hired men were earning a few coins...as he remained reclined on a wooden column inside of the tavern, The Peg-Leg Lass which was the second most popular tavern in Tortuga, but there was something about the atmosphere Will enjoyed...the chanties? the rowdiness? or the general lack of concern for etiquette present in the place? he could not tell.</p><p>Still, he could not forget why he was there...provisions, before his long journey to the dreaded island where he could find Elizabeth’s salvation.</p><p>“Ład!” exclaimed Barbossa, who had a fat lady sitting in his lap, both enjoying each other’s company a bit too much.</p><p>“Lad, come here! there’s something ye might want to hear…” Will stood up from the place he was reclining against, carefully approaching the table where his “prisoner” was sitting, avoiding the fighting customers, the barmaids who moved from one place to the other and a couple of drunk pirates to finally reach Barbossa’s table, where he finally sat in opposition to Barbossa and the smiling prostitute that was gleefully accommodating herself on the legs of a man so infamous and cruel that at one point, sailors had declared him the envoy of the devil himself.</p><p>“Captain…” Will corrected him “Until our job is complete, It is ‘Captain’ not ‘Lad’, I am your captain” Barbossa briefly clenched his jaw before addressing Will again “Be that as it may, ‘Captain’ ye might still wish to hear what this lass is to say…” he turned to the plump woman with a wolfish grin on his lips “...be that right? Laurel dearest” she flirt fully answered back to Barbossa “Indeed, that be...Ye must be cap’n Turner, be you not? A man was earlier ‘ere looking for ‘the fountain’, I heard him talking about it, he said he knew the way but did not elaborate further, didn’t think much of it at first, the man was drunk, but he left in a rush the next morning.</p><p>She lifted her skirt and pulled something before placing down her skirt again and placing an object on the table.</p><p>“He left on a hurry but he left this when he went…” she then placed a glass coin on the table, it had the carved image of some old Spanish conquistador with a long and thick beard and a skull, crossed by two swords.</p><p>“Is the man who left this by any chance, Jack Sparrow?” Will asked, staring down at the woman sitting on Barbossa’s lap, she then turned red and spit into the ground she quite suddenly wasn’t in such good mood anymore “I wish it had been him, aye, what I wouldn’t give to see that pig again and give him a piece of m’mind...but alas, no, twasn’t him, at first I thought he was with the Royal navy, thankfully I was wrong that would have been really bad…” Navy? that definitely was bad in Will’s eyes, unless...Lord Becker? no, he would have raised hell, he wouldn’t just have arrived at Tortuga to drink some ale and leave quietly, Norrington? Will remembered Norrington, he was in the past, Elizabeth’s betrothed, a man who had been in the navy and now associated with pirates, still there was a problem, as a lot of the men there, a lot of pirates including Jack himself and Mr. Gibbs had started first as men of the navy…</p><p>“Thank you” he said to the woman, on Barbossa’s lap...and on a level, to Barbossa himself…</p><p>“Well, lad, ye have provisions now, I hope, another couple of days for yer men here and we be out to find yer lass, I hope ye don’t mind then if I spend some time, with this lass…” he said, while she giggled and kissed him, and Will although disgusted, could not help himself to feel grateful to Barbossa.</p><p>“Go ahead, you enjoy the night, ‘Captain’ you have earned this…” to which his only answer was a wicked smile before the formerly accursed Captain Barbossa went upstairs to enjoy the pleasures he had been denied as an undead man, Will envied him a little, as his only pleasure and only love remained away from him, in Davy Jones’s ship, he watched as his men enjoyed the night and swiftly he retired, to spend his night aboard The Leaking Sentinel...alone.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>“The captain requests your presence tonight, Miss Swann” said Maccus who was standing in front of her, staring at her with his big bulging eyes that did not blink, although how he could with his hammerhead, Elizabeth simply did not know.</p><p>His chest remained naked and his gills ever present.</p><p>“I have not finished my chores yet” Elizabeth said, without standing up, she had been charged with removing the barnacles from the deck of the ship, a nearly impossible task as the ship was more barnacle than wood at that moment, earlier that day, she calculated that it would take her a few months to complete, and it was a good thing she no longer needed to eat, for it would have caused her to stop...a few months...five years had passed already aboard the ship, the months came and went as the sea moved, so when she was given a chore, she occupied herself in it, she would not allow herself to be distracted by anything else, because the shores forced her to keep her mind occupied, they forced her to focus only on the task ahead, when she had no chores, which was more often than she’d like, her mind moved back to think about Will, about her father, about her freedom, about her life aboard the ship and about the man she had killed...and about the little claws that had begun to grow from the tip of her fingers, which at the moment was the most troublesome thought of all.</p><p>“It is not a request, it’s a command, you are to dine with the captain and that will be it…”</p><p>“Who will remove the barnacles?” she insisted…</p><p>“I will, for tonight, and tomorrow...the new lad is to take over your duties for this month!” that was strange.</p><p>“Why?” she asked, visibly confused.</p><p>“Ask no questions, Woman, go and get dressed, we left a dress on your cabin to change, do not question me, just do it”</p><p>“Chambers? but I sleep below the deck, with the rest of the crew, you know this Maccus…” to which, he showed a wicked smile, his shark teeth all perfectly white and perfectly sharped in full display, the eyes in each side of his hammerhead all focused on her quite suddenly, which made him the scariest.</p><p>She had grown accustomed to the fish men some time ago, none of them looked human whatsoever but she had seen their faces daily for the past five years, and before that she had been a hostage in Hector Barbossa’s ship, who themselves were not human either and looked like skeletons each time the moon touched them; in the past, that would have been frightening but the horrors of the sea grew less and less effective with each passing day, she was getting too used to that in which she did not believe as a child; yet Maccus still made her spine shiver each time she talked to him, Him and the Captain never failed to make her nervous, and she quite simply could not figure out why, so Maccus displaying his sharkish grin...not a good signal.</p><p>“Not anymore, Miss Swann, yer place in the crew is special, and it shall be treated as such...come, see your cabin, make yourself presentable to Captain Jones, he has a surprise for you!” With that, he left and went below deck again, and thus Elizabeth followed him, leaving in the spot the bucket, the sponge and the knife she had been using to remove the barnacles from deck, and while she descended the stairs, all she could think about was the unlikeliness of the whole thing, a month without chores? that sounded strange, her own cabin? She knew very well that she was going to remain there longer than anyone else, but a cabin? she scrubbed the floors, she sat at the crows nest...she descended the deck following Maccus until she finally reached a door, poorly painted and green with moss but a luxury compared to where she had been sleeping before.</p><p>“Dinner shall be soon” he said before opening the door, and leaving...she was having dinner with the captain, it was no matter, she remembered the time when she was a hostage aboard Barbossa’s ship, she had dinner with him too, Barbossa at least looked human under the sunlight but she could figure that it would not be too big an issue to dine with Captain Jones, if he wanted her dead he would have killed her already, she had spent five years aboard the ship, five, he could have slit her throat at any moment, he could have thrown her over board, he could have poisoned her gruel and if he hadn’t done so far, then he would not do it over a fancy dinner...still, Elizabeth dreaded.</p><p>The interior of her cabin was actually quite nice, she had furniture of polished oak wood, a mirror, an actual bed with clean sheets and a mattress, a place to lay down her sabre, and another smaller room inside the cabin in which she could bathe; letting go of her suspicions she did as Maccus told her, and made herself as presentable as she could be, her skin was now tan and her hair was now rough as were her hands even without the claws, but she looked magnificent when she was done and to wrap it up, the magnificent emerald green gown that had been left above her bed, which even before she entered a life of piracy she would have found deeply charming and beautiful, and the best part is that it required no corset, it simply lifted her figure on it’s own.</p><p>She looked at herself in the mirror...she felt happy, proud even…even if the dress itched her a little she could feel proud.</p><p>Her thoughts were cut short by three knocks on the door.</p><p>“Coming!” she said, before walking towards the door and opening it, Maccus was there, waiting.</p><p>“Forgive me Lass, the captain insisted me to accompany you myself” hardly the work of the first mate, but Elizabeth could only comply.</p><p>“Very well” she followed Maccus who turned around, walking a bit more between the corridors below deck before she reached the Captain’s cabin, which had two doors that pushed inwards and inside, she saw a magnificent table, with several silver plates all holding different sort of meals, fish mostly, but at least none of it was gruel; the table which was long, had several chairs surrounding it, they all were made of beautifully carved oak and at the moment, captain Jones wasn’t sitting in any of them, so Elizabeth simply choose a seat and reclined on it. After waiting a while, Elizabeth decided to indulge herself, she took some boiled quail eggs, a whole fried fish with crispy skin and greasy entrails, a bunch of boiled seaweed, fried crab legs, shrimps dripped with butter and soft potatoes and a soft bed of spinach...she probably would have found the whole thing unappetizing a few years ago, but as it stood, she hadn’t tasted anything as delicious and mouth watering in five years, so she made no mind of manners or anything else for the matter.</p><p>“I trust it be all of yer liking” she heard a voice call her, Captain Jones, who until that moment was fused to one of the columns inside the cabin, suddenly faced off and walked out of it, the tentacles of his face had grown longer and wilder, the crab leg made a louder noise when hitting the clanks. A small reaction came out of Elizabeth, but the scenario was similar, she had been through it and she remembered well what to do...just don’t stab the immortal pirate, and he’ll not poison you.</p><p>“It is lovely” she said softly.</p><p>“It be not yer usual fancy meals ye used to have, but it be nicer than the gruel I gather” he said, sitting across her and grabbing one crab from the platter, who was still alive even after Jones dipped it in sauce, it did not die until Jones put it in his mouth and bit it, breaking it’s shell in half.</p><p>“Much better than the gruel” she said honestly taking some shrimps and mashed potatoes to her mouth.</p><p>“Though I am certain not everyone in the crew has access to this...” she continued, not knowing where that came from. “I be merely checking on you, miss Swann, you be the first woman on this ship, I wish only to see you comfortable aboard. Maccus told me you be sick, are you not? I am a captain that worries for his crew”</p><p>“It is nothing” said Elizabeth “Just some minor changes”</p><p>“Changes you said?” Davy asked with curiosity, to which Elizabeth only replied showing briefly Captain Jones her right hand, now with clawed endings and slightly webbed fingers.</p><p>“But I am guessing that is not what you wished to talk to me about, captain? am I correct?” she said while placing her hand again on the table.</p><p>“Aye, you be correct... Yer getting new responsibilities, Maccus time is almost up and I’m promoting Jimmy Legs as the First Mate, so, someone will have to take Jimmy Legs place in the ship, that be ye, Miss Swann…” he said serving himself a coup of wine and drinking, without turning to see her.</p><p>“I am flattered, Captain, but surely there will be someone more deserving, more experienced...Wyvern? Bill Turner?” she noticed Davy twitching at the mention of Will’s father, but he kept his composure, extending his jar of wine to Elizabeth who poured a little on her coup, she was almost about to drink it until she stopped herself, freezing mid-air.</p><p>“Worry not about the wine, I am not to kill ye, yer immortal now, remember? three hundred years at least…” Elizabeth drank then, quickly and in a single sip, and the wine burned her entrails and throat as soon as it passed through it.</p><p>“Wyvern forgets things, he be forgetting his own name at times, and Bill...I trust not Bill” he spoke plainly after sipping.</p><p>“And you trust me? why? I was engaged with Bill’s son, I associated with Jack Sparrow and Hector Barbossa, who were enemies of yours if I remember, why trust me at all? I mean not to sabotage it and know I appreciate the opportunity, but if I were captain I would not leave me in charge of anything” she argued...</p><p> </p><p>“Ye will not betray me, in fact, I feel ye be my most loyal crew, I bareley be wrong, Miss Swann, and ye know the consequence, yer here on stead of yer beloved” her throat burned a little.</p><p>“So that’s why I am getting a cabin?”</p><p>“Aye, that be why” Elizabeth felt itchy, her throat and entrails burned a little “There just be one last thing before ye take Jimmy Legs’ place” he said with a malicious grin on his face, a grin similar to that which he had when he had forced her to kill the sailor.</p><p>Suddenly Elizabeth felt to the ground, twitching in pain, convulsing and... shifting. Her pretty dress was beginning to get shredded, as her libs grew in size, as most of the hair in her head began to fall and her skull began to change it’s shape while she remained twisting on the ground, foam dripping from her mouth along with brine and bile, and during this time the claws on her hands and feet grew in size, as did the webbing between her fingers, her teeth began to fall leaving place for serrated and sharp teeth and beneath her jaw a couple of gills began to open slowly as she struggled to breathe.</p><p>Before the horrific spectacle in front of him, Captain Jones simply smiled and said “Twas bound to happen, but the process would have taken too long Miss Swann, three hundred years? I only be making the process fast, no struggle with the changes in the future and no...it was not the wine, in fact, twasn’t any of the meals in this table” Elizabeth kept shifting and turning in the ground, having seizures, struggling to make any sort of coherent noise from her mouth, her eyes turning big and bulging got locked in the octopus man while she was “changing” her soft skin was getting covered by grey fish scales.</p><p>“It was yesterday’s gruel, the wine only forced the reaction today rather than tomorrow...one of the crew, one of the ship, Miss Swann, now you be truly one of us, Master of Key…” he said with a sadistic smile on his face, before leaving the room and letting Elizabeth finish her transformation on the ground.</p><p> </p>
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